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It's interesting enough that I watch it .... but I can't help but believe that most of what we see is fully or partially staged.
Most days @ a vegas pawn shop will probably see nothing more than people trying to hock their rings & jewlery, an old stereo, DVD, tools or VCR..
The day(s) the camera crew happens to be there, people just happen to walk in 'out of the blue', right up to the counter & camera, & introduce thamselves with a $60,000 unique item, the $10K genuine 'whachamacallit" Rare things from the 1700's , oddball things ...
At the very least, (it seems likley), the people have been told to come in & re-create their 'original' pawn shop experience long after the actual fact, at worst, it's a complete fabrication, a friend that is known to own the item in advance, & told to bring it in so it can be 'researched' on camera.... Probably a combo of both, with the occasional 'real' customer ...

It has a lot of Survivor editing going on at the very least. But can you blame them? How fun would it be to see the Cobra come in and not find out if it was original or not, not seeing it completed, etc. I'm sure one episode typically spans several months.

Another BEEP show where every BEEP other word is BEEP or BEEP and sometimes BEEP BEEP. I BEEP can't watch that BEEP just like I BEEP don't watch BEEP loggers, BEEP truckers, or BEEP crab fishermen, or BEEP BEEP any other BEEP kind of BEEP BEEP shows.

Another BEEP show where every BEEP other word is BEEP or BEEP and sometimes BEEP BEEP. I BEEP can't watch that BEEP just like I BEEP don't watch BEEP loggers, BEEP truckers, or BEEP crab fishermen, or BEEP BEEP any other BEEP kind of BEEP BEEP shows.

I do, however, make an exception to my rule for "South Park."

Really? In the episodes I've seen, I don't remember a whole lot of that.

I do enjoy the show, sure a lot of it's staged, but that's what makes it interesting.

I like the show - it's kind of like Antiques Roadshow with the F word sprinkled in for flavor. Have you noticed there are a lot of scenes where Rick is just staring at some shelf of trinkets or whatever, when he turns to the "customer" and asks what he's got there? Like they just happened to catch the half-owner of the shop dusting the shelves.

It's not a complaint really, they could just do a little better job making things look more natural. Some of the dialog is really kind of forced or sounds scripted. But the items people bring in there are fascenating and I love the uncomfortableness you get when an item is worth $5k and Rick tells them he'll give 'em $1200 for it.

Oh. These guys must need the money quick. Why lose 50% of your money at a pawn? Take it to a custom auction.
I'm sure auctions will get you way more money than a pawn would.

I'm sure that's true in some cases. However the other night they showed what they sold several items for and the majority of them were for well less than 120%. A couple were for less than what they paid and a few like the restored barber chair they hit a home run. It appears they do really well on are the ones they restore such as another home run the Cobra.

Also on the show which had the who could make the most profit contest their profits by employee ranged from 10-30%. My guess is they aren't in any hurry to sell the item so they wait for a good price. Add in the auction house fee (at times for both seller and buyer) and to me on the surface most make out OK. Again I'm sure there are exceptions.

I just found Pawn Stars the other day and have been watching them, it is actually a decent show. Sort of a modern Antiques Roadshow if you will. Thanks for the heads up on Pickers, I will be sure to check that out.

I just found Pawn Stars the other day and have been watching them, it is actually a decent show. Sort of a modern Antiques Roadshow if you will. Thanks for the heads up on Pickers, I will be sure to check that out.

What on earth is historic about this show?

I'd really like to have a nature specials and science channel, a "we beat the Nazis" channel, and a dedicated arts and entertainment channel. Hell, I wouldn't mind watching a channel dedicated to music on television.

It's too bad we can't find quality programming like that on cable TV amid the fetid swamp that is "reality" TV.

Free over the air HDTV + Tivo HD + Netflix for Blu-ray and streaming = Bliss

I saw the episode with the ejection seat and didn't believe any of it. If somebody really came in with an ejection seat you'd call the police and they'd bring in the bomb squad to disarm it or safely detonate it.

Who are they kidding? We're not that dumb. They pretended like it might have been still loaded with pyrotechnics and armed and ready to shoot through the roof at 100 mph. Gimme a break. And they would have bought it if the asking price had been low enough. Sure. I believe you. What's next?

It's not even reality. It's fake reality. That's why TruTV uses the word "actuality" because they know the word "reality" has been corrupted so you can't believe it anymore.

"PAWN STARS (History) - The cable channel is reportedly on track to order New York and Miami-based spin-offs of its popular reality franchise, about the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas. Brent Montgomery and Colby Gaines of Leftfield Pictures are behind the series, which posted 5.1 million viewers on Monday, a series record for the network. No other details were given about the potential spin-offs..."

I saw the episode with the ejection seat and didn't believe any of it. If somebody really came in with an ejection seat you'd call the police and they'd bring in the bomb squad to disarm it or safely detonate it.

Who are they kidding? We're not that dumb. They pretended like it might have been still loaded with pyrotechnics and armed and ready to shoot through the roof at 100 mph. Gimme a break. And they would have bought it if the asking price had been low enough. Sure. I believe you. What's next?

It's not even reality. It's fake reality. That's why TruTV uses the word "actuality" because they know the word "reality" has been corrupted so you can't believe it anymore.

I completely disagree.

If you watch the show consistently, you'll see a wide variety of items. For example, just this week someone brought in a US Army flame thrower from the Korean war era. The device had holes in the tanks and the nozzle was a non-functioning replica. But, the expert they brought in still thought it had value, so it was bought. If your theory was true about the whole show being a fake, why wouldn't they have gone for the gusto again and claimed the flame thrower was real, loaded, and ready to go?

It's just like when they've had loaded guns show up; you never know what's going to walk in the door.......

Anyone catch the guy this week with the rare "8 are known" poker chip .. He took $3K cash & $600 in retail mdse from the shop.
A Chip collector on a Poker chip forum was at the Pawn shop a couple of weeks ago & noticed it in the Showcase at the time .. Marked as $45,000.00 . :

Anyone catch the guy this week with the rare "8 are known" poker chip .. He took $3K cash & $600 in retail mdse from the shop.
A Chip collector on a Poker chip forum was at the Pawn shop a couple of weeks ago & noticed it in the Showcase at the time .. Marked as $45,000.00 . :

I find the show interesting for a 30 minute investment of time (20 if you put it on the dvr and ff thru the ads) just to learn about what the experts have to say about some of the stuff that gets brought in.....things made by Franklin or Revere, etc. The weapons are usually cool to find out about. I often wonder how much Rick really knows versus if it is sort of setup....I'm sure he knows about coins, and what to look for in fakes, guitars, but some of it seems a bit detailed.

A lot of the antics, bets, etc are obviously scripted, but it keeps it light.

And it is obvious that they feed some things into the store. Like the sunken treasure coins or whatever it was that was worth $600K. I'm sure it was on auction in Vegas, didn't sell, so they asked them to bring it by....the shop had no ability to buy it, but it makes for a better show and gets the seller some free advertisement as well. Plus now that the show exists I'm sure it brings more of that type stuff to the store because people want to get on tv. Hey pa you should take that old thing down to the pawn stars and get on the tube.

I love the people who don't even attempt to negotiate they just say "oh, ok". And more should try to add in store trade to max what they get in return. I don't think I've ever seen them say no to adding some store trade value to a deal.

Looks like the "Coke Machine restoration guy" gets his own spinoff show:

Rusty Nuts," due Monday, October 18 at 9:00/8:00c on HIST, tracks recurring "Pawn Stars" expert Rick Dale and his Las Vegas-based Rick's Restorations. Each episode follows Rick, his staff and his teenage son as they go through the process of restoring everything from Cadillacs to Coke Machines, including details about where, when and why they were invented. The spin-off will lead into new episodes of its parent series "Pawn Stars" at 10:00/9:00c.

I told my father about last week's episode were Rick? bought The Beatles Yesterday and Today for $2,300.
My father's a record collector. He once passed it up for $200.
I went on ebay and prices were $100 - $2,400. I need to buy it for him as a special gift

Interesting Article about how people uncovered how "fake" & staged Pawn Stars is (link below) ...

It turns out that local known vegas actors are hired to be "customers pawning interesting items" ...
Rare Guitars that 'walked in', are actually existing stock from a local Las Vegas Guitar shop, & both 'the customer" & 'expert appraiser" are simply played by different employees of that same shop, same w/ guns, coke machines & more!
An interesting read ....:http://centraltendencies.com/2011/03...stars-is-fake/

Interesting Article about how people uncovered how "fake" & staged Pawn Stars is...

That was an good read. I have not followed this show too closely, but much of the "employees" talk seems scripted, and situations are obviously set up. Also, as noted in that article, the 1965 Shelby Cobra chassis, hot air balloon, and Schweizer 300 helicopter episodes were clearly staged.